Elephant Safaris And Wild Life Camping

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Yala National Park :- Situated in the southeast region of the island in the dry zone boarding the Indian Ocean. Park area is belonging to two provinces namely South and Uva Provinces. The total area of the park (which is of 5 blocks) is 97,881 ha but only Block I and Block II are open for visitors.

The park was initially established in 1938 only with block I and other blocks were included later.Rainfall is highly seasonal. Main source of rainfall is Northeast monsoons (December, February) and inter monsoonal rains during March-April. Mean Annual Rainfall: 900, 1300 mm. Area is experiencing drought during June, October. Mean annual Temperature 27o C. Daily temperature above 30oC is not uncommon.Vegetation is mainly consists of Secondary lowland dry monsoon forest & semi arid thorny scrublands. Small patches of revering forest, mangroves, sand dunes and dry grasslands also presented.

Forest area is dominated by Palu (Manilkara hexandra), Weera (Drypetes sepiaria), Malitthan (Salvadora persica), Ehala (Cassia fistula), Divul (Limonia acidissima) and Kohomba (Azadirachta indica).Thorny scrubland is dominated by Eraminia (Ziziphus.sp) and Andara (Dichrostachys cinerea). Sonneratia, Acanthus, Rhizopora and Lumnitzera species dominate the mangrove vegetation.All the big game mammals of the country are found within the park. Elephant, Leopard, sloth bear, Spotted Dear, Wild Boar and sambhur. Apart from them small mammals such as Black napped hare, Grey, Ruddy & Striped necked mongoose, Grey Languor & porcupine are common small animals.

Wilpattu National Park :- Wilpattu is one of the oldest National Parks in Sri Lanka Located in Northwest coast lowland dry zone of Sri Lanka. The park lies within the North-central & North-western providences. The area of the park is 131693 ha. The unique feature of this park is the existence of Willus (Natural lakes).

As the park lies in dry zone rainfall is highly seasonal. Inter-monsoonal rains in March and the northeast monsoon (December, February) are the main sources of rainfall. Mean annual rainfall is about 1000 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 27, C.

The park consists of willus, dry-lowland forests, scrublands, open grasslands and coastal belt. Characteristic feature of the park is that majority of park area is covered with dense forest.The vegetation dominated by tree species such as Palu (Manilkara hexandra), Weera (Drypetes sepiaria) & Satin (Chloroxylon swietenia). Milla (Vitex altissima), Ebony (Diospyros ebenum) and Wewarana (Alseodaphne semecaprifolia) are also found in fair numbers.

Maduru Oya National Park :- Located in the Dry Zone and is 300 k.m. away from Colombo and 58,849 hectares in extent. A wide variety of wildlife including some endemic birds species and reptiles are found here. Maduru Oya is rich in ancient ruins found in different places and its southern parts provide veddhas, indigenous people their living environment. Endemic purple monkey is among the important animal species that can be seen in addition to Sambhur, a member of the cat family etc. There is some endemic avifauna also found within this Park.

Bundala National Park :- Bundala National Park is situated in the southeast part of the country in the semi arid zone. Park belongs to Southern Province. The park area is 6,216 ha.The park was initially established as a Sanctuary in 1969. Due to its significant role as a wintering site for migratory birds this was declared as RAMSAR wetland in 1990.As Bundala National Park is located in semi arid zone, rainfall is highly seasonal. Main source of rainfall is Northeast monsoons (December, February). Mean Annual Rainfall: 900, 1300 mm. Area is experiencing prolong drought from May to October. Mean annual Temperature 27o C. Daily temperature above 30oC is not uncommon.

Bundala National Park is mainly consist of 4 brackish lagoons, salt pans, marshes, thorny scrub lands, sand dunes, dry mixed ever green forests and dry grass lands. Scrublands mainly consist of Andara (Dichrostachys cinerea), Eraminiya (Ziziphus sp.), Karamba (Carrisa spinarum). However the invasive species such as Prosopis juliflora and Opuntia delenii are spreading in the grasslands and scrublands.Forest is covered by typical dominants of Dry mixed ever green forests Palu (Manilkara hexandra), Weera (Drypetes sepiaria) and Mallithan (Salvadora persica). Maila (Bauhinia racemosa) and diwul (Limonia acidissima) are also frequently seen. Park provides the shelter for Elephant, Spotted Dear, Wild Boar, Black naped hare, Grey & Ruddy mongoose, toque macaque, Grey Langur & porcupine, jackal and fishing & Rusty Spotted cats. This park is also well known for sightings of estuarine crocodile and mugger crocodile.